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A Look at Stop Smoking Medications and How They Work

Currently there are two popular stop smoking medications approved by the FDA and marketed in the United States. And, there are other stop smoking prescription medications available in other countries, but still less than 3% of smokers quit in any given year according to recent studies.

Nicotine is a powerful drug that is highly addictive. So, those who are trying to quit smoking must deal with changing old habits as well as withdrawal symptoms. Nicotine replacement therapy, like patches and gums, and stop smoking medications can only help with the physical addiction. Other plans are needed to adjust behavior, which is why so many people are unable to quit, even when using a stop smoking prescription medication.

Zyban

Zyban was approved by the FDA as a stop smoking prescription medication in 1997. It is actually the same drug (Bupropion) as the popular anti-depressant known as Wellbutrin.

In the United Kingdom, Bupropion marketed as Zyban SR was approved for use as a stop smoking aid in 2000, but the drug is not used to treat depression in that country. Zyban is also available in Germany, Columbia, Thailand, Korea, Canada, Brazil, France, Australia, Poland and Pakistan under various trade names.

As with other stop smoking medications, Zyban is supposed to help curb cravings for nicotine and reduce the physical urge to smoke. No one is quite sure how this might work, but it is probably related to chemicals produced by the brain while smoking.

Recent studies indicate that nicotine increases the production of a feel good chemical known as dopamine. Zyban does not increase the production of dopamine but it prevents it from breaking down so quickly.

Without a stop smoking prescription medication like Zyban, dopamine breaks down quickly, so within two hours, the urge to smoke returns. Urges to smoke that occur more often than every couple of hours are related to habits, lifestyle or behavioral associations, not to physical addiction.

Chantix

In the United States, this is the newest of the stop smoking medications, although similar drugs have been marketed in Eastern Europe for over twenty years. Like Zyban, it is supposed to reduce the urge to smoke. It may also make smoking less pleasurable.

Both drugs are effective for some people. Chantix has more side effects than Zyban, but there is a higher chance of physical dependency on Zyban than on Chantix.

It is important to remember that a stop smoking prescription medication only addresses part of the problem. These medications assume that everyone who smokes is addicted to nicotine. We have all known people who quit smoking cold turkey for health reasons or because of someone they loved, so obviously this is an addiction that can be conquered, with or without drugs or nicotine replacement.

One of the most important things that you can do before you try to quit is find your motivation. Counseling, support and planning are all important, too. In fact, some studies have shown that counseling alone is just as effective as either one of the popular stop smoking medications. Some plans are even more effective. To learn more please visit the Stop Smoking Blog, a resource for those who wish to quit, written by those who have.

Patsy Hamilton was a health care professional for over twenty years before becoming a health writer. Currently she is writing a series of articles about how to stop smoking. Read more at http://www.stop-smoking-blog.com

posted by ujkyah @ 4:02 PM 0 comments

Help to Reduce Belly Fat

Can You Lose Weight Where You Want?

If you have excess weight only in specific parts of your body, you still must look at yourself as a whole. It's not possible to spot reduce; in other words, you can't dictate that you only want weight to come off one place or another. In most cases your so called "trouble spots" is where the fat will come off last, so be prepared to lose weight in your fingers (rings fall off) and your face (friends may ask if you're feeling all right) first. There is hope for losing that belly fat though.

Work Toward Building Muscle and Reducing Body Fat

If you work toward building muscle and reducing body fat you will eventually tackle those trouble spots though, and develop a better physique in the process. Muscle tissue is active meaning it requires calories to be maintained. If you were stranded without a food supply, eventually your body would turn to its own muscle tissue as a source of nutrition first (muscles are protein) while saving the fat stores for last. Simply put, fat is nature's way of ensuring survival during times of famine. That's why the prevalence of heart failure kills someone who is severely malnourished. By building more muscle you become a more efficient energy burning machine which translates to mean you can eat more food! That to me is a good thing.

The More Active You Are, The More You Get to Eat!

That explains why some people can eat so much more than others yet not gain weight; your efficient energy burning friend simply has a greater proportion of muscle to fat than you. Muscle is more dense than fat. It's often said that a pound of muscle is heavier than a pound of fat, but the truth is a pound is a pound. What they mean is a one pound volume of muscle is a smaller package than a one pound volume of fat, or put another way, fat is billowy and fluffy while muscle is sleek and compact. Lady No. 1 weighs 120 pounds with 30% body fat so she has 84 pounds of lean tissue and 36 pounds of fat, while Lady No. 2 also weighing 120 pounds but at 18% body fat is carrying roughly 98 pounds of muscle and 22 pounds of fat. Would you rather be Lady No. 1 or Lady No. 2? Which do you think takes up more space, 22 or 36 pounds of fat? I'd say 36 pounds of fat would be a lot bigger package than 22 pounds.

How Much You Weigh is Meaningless

That is why body weight as a number by itself is meaningless, but your ratio of fat to muscle is very important and worth working to change. Strive to decrease your body fat and increase your muscle mass and you'll look better, you'll feel stronger and more energetic and you'll simply be healthier.

You can generally have your body fat tested at fitness centers and most gyms so ask about having it done. It's better to know you have 30% body fat and work to reduce it to 29, than not to know and only think in terms of body weight. Most people who think only of how much they weigh tend to do everything to reduce that weight, and it's usually at the expense of losing more valuable muscle.

The best way to increase muscle and decrease fat is through a consistent exercise program. Start at whatever is your beginning, but do start.

Begin with an overall body conditioning type exercise program, doing whatever you enjoy, whether it be a sport, gardening, weight lifting, biking, hiking, or any other activity. Any physical movement you do regularly counts as exercise even if it is doing laundry or taking out the trash. Get as much as you can out of every chore you do, and stop thinking of it as a chore but instead as an opportunity to move your body.

In the early 1900s a washing machine was a new invention. People used to wash their clothes by hand, and hang them outside to dry. Being a housewife was actually a pretty strenuous job. It's no wonder women were thankful for modern conveniences like automatic washers and dryers, but now we've come to where our daily activities are not taking our bodies at all, so unless we want to get fatter and fatter we must do something about it.

Get Fit and Belly Fat Disappears

It doesn't make sense to drive around and around in the parking lot looking for the closest space when you're on your way to run or walk on the treadmill. Why take the elevator five flights every day at work and then pay a monthly fee to do the StairMaster after work? What if we all started to notice that our world is full of exercise equipment.

We could become so much more fit if we'd just start to notice all the opportunities for physical movement we miss in the name of convenience. Look around and see if you can spot some exercise opportunities, and then get busy and get fit.

~~ Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com

Get The Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT and NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss.

posted by ujkyah @ 3:55 PM 0 comments